Maybe it is moralistic to hope for this type of solidarity. Maybe such sentiments have no place in diplomatic affairs. But this is not the point of contention in current U. S. foreign policy. The peculiar fact is that, on today's world stage, everyone claims to stand in the interest of the world community, to act on behalf of the poor.

President Bush, it seems, wants to be loved.

The White House's vision of the world is highly moralistic. Most fundamentally, it invokes the idea of freedom to justify its actions. In a New York Times op-ed written for the anniversary of September 11th, the President announced that "securing freedom's triumph" is "America's great mission." Freedom is what separates us from the "evil-doers." It demands that we "liberate" foreign nations.

There is no need to speculate about what this freedom will entail. A very particular view of the concept resides openly within the rhetoric. There is "a single sustainable model for national success," announced the Bush Administration's National Security Strategy. It requires "free enterprise" and "free trade" in "every corner of the world."

"If you can make something that others value," the White House says, "you should be able to sell it to them. If others make something that you value, you should be able to buy it. This is real freedom."

Autonomy and self-determination appear to lie outside this "single model," outside of "real freedom." European peoples are not free to decide, as a precautionary measure, to instate a ban on genetically modified foods. Rather, the U.S. upholds the freedom of agribusiness to access foreign markets. (In this case, another of Bush's moral arguments contends that Europe stands guilty of "hinder[ing] the great cause of ending hunger in Africa," a cause that CEOs apparently hold dear.)

The type of freedom offered by military "liberation" can also prove circumscribed. The media watchdogs at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting noted a March 19 slip by Tom Brokaw, in which the NBC anchor voiced a sentiment that lies only slightly beneath the surface of Washington's neoconservative foreign policy: "We don't want to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq," he said, "because in a few days we're gonna own that country."

International public opinion puts the lie to our President's do-good crusade. Those who make up the majority of the world say no. They tell the White House to stop doing them any favors. They assert that real freedom does not permit imperial ambition.

There is also a hopeful message, though; it suggests that perhaps they do not hate us after all. When asked to distinguish between the American people and the government, large majorities in France, Germany, Britain and Italy held a favorable view of the American people. Elsewhere, too -- in Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Nigeria -- those who spoke negatively of our country referred to the government holding power in Washington, rather than its citizens.

Rejecting the "liberation" of pre-emptive strike and the "freedom" of corporate expansion should not mean shrinking into isolationism. Americans are inextricably linked to those who speak through opinion polls and international protest. Their distinction, between our people and our government, should guide a moral vision for the world.

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